


let's get lost

by zauberer_sirin



Series: Cousy RomCom Challenge [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Flirting, POV Skye | Daisy Johnson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 07:06:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13969869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zauberer_sirin/pseuds/zauberer_sirin
Summary: Written for the RomCom Challenge at johnsonandcoulson.com - Prompt: "Daisy has grown up in Afterlife with her parents and she falls for the dashing SHIELD guy who comes to try to start an alliance between humans and Inhumans (Jiaying and Cal do not approve)"





	let's get lost

**Author's Note:**

> Title (like every fic in the series) from a song once sung by Chet Baker.

It’s easy to find him. Not only because - though technically free to roam the place - her mother has put him under surveillance but because Daisy is pretty confident he’s the only person in Afterlife currently wearing a suit.

He standing where she did the exhibition for him this morning, looking out at the mountains as the sun starts setting.

“So Phil, was it?”

He turns around. He looks so out of place here, and honestly, that’s exciting. They don’t get many visitors. And Daisy, as the boss’ daughter, doesn’t get out as much as the other residents.

“Everyone calls me Coulson,” he says, then he shakes his head. “But I guess you’re not like everyone else.”

She smiles. She gets why SHIELD sent him of all people. She’s read his file - he was vaguely in her radar before he came here as SHIELD’s representative. Part of Daisy’s job here is to keep track of possible information leaks, of Inhumans getting noticed by government agencies. She’s good at computers, she can do that. And SHIELD has always been a threat to their capacity to hide. Whenever there’s something weird, whether it be Iron Man’s latest stunt or a random street magician getting fire powers, Agent Phil Coulson is normally the one they send to check it out. Daisy knew his name before seeing his face for the first time.

“I’ll take that as a good thing,” she says.

The visitor’s eyes widen, as if it hadn’t occurred to him that Daisy not being like anyone else could be a bad thing. “What you did back there today?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve never seen anyone move a mountain before,” he says.

She thinks she might blush. Her powers are something so natural to her - she’s been using them since she went through Terrigenesis at fourteen, and she had rarely even used them in front of anyone who wasn’t an Inhuman. There were exceptions, exceptions her mom hated; but when she’s out there in the human world and something bad happens Daisy is not going to just stand there and watch, she’s going to help people, even if that means exposing herself - and she always cleans up very well afterwards, erasing any trace of even internet chatter about her exploits.

But the way Phil looked when she moved those rocks this morning… it reminds Daisy of being a teenager and starting to control her powers, the joy of it, the absolute amazement of it. Some days she thinks she’s in danger of losing that.

“My mom doesn’t like the idea of open our doors to the world,” Daisy says. “But she knows it’s time.”

“Well, she married your dad,” Phil points out.

“Then Hydra tried to kidnap me and murder her when I was a baby, so she got cold feet about contact with humans for a bit.”

“Understandable.”

It was weird telling SHIELD her story, when their own agents had been so involved in it. But Phil didn’t know how far back it went. Part of the reason SHIELD started looking into Afterlife is because they found Whitehall’s old files. Part of the reason why Jiaying let them approach her people was because SHIELD had taken care of that monster when the extent of Hydra’s infiltration was known. Daisy’s father had been a bit disappointed it wasn’t him the one to put him down, but he had also been very relieved. He wasn’t a murderer.

Phil had told Daisy how lost he had felt, when the fact that Hydra was controlling so much of what SHIELD did came to the light. He apologized to Jiaying on behalf of the organization, regretting how if they should have seen this coming decades ago her family wouldn’t have to suffer their persecution. 

Daisy had been trying to get her mom in the same room as a human representative for years, trying to convince her to let some people know Inhumans existed. Jiaying thought her daughter was being naive, Daisy still believes anonymity is a good tactic _until it isn’t_ , and when the time comes they’d better have some allies outside Afterlife.

Allies like Agent Phil Coulson.

“Hey, it’s movie and pizza night out here. We’re meeting at Ethan’s place if you want to come,” Daisy tells him. Then she gets self-conscious that it might look like she’s asking him out. “I thought that maybe you’d like to see what Inhumans do with their free time, that we are just like everybody else. You know… for your… SHIELD report thingie.”

He looks at her like he’s amused. “I’ll come,” he says. He hesitates to get the next words out. “Is Ethan… is he your boyfriend?”

Daisy chuckles. “What? No, no, he doesn’t date girls,” he explains. “Do you hit on all your study subjects?”

“What? No, no, I wasn’t-” he stops when he sees Daisy’s expression. She is teasing him. She thinks. “You’re not a study subject, Daisy.”

“But you have to write a report on us,” she says. “And I’m the Inhuman case study, aren’t I?”

“I think there’s a reason why your mother chose you,” Phil says. “I think she’s a very smart woman.”

“Why do you say that?”

“From what I’ve seen in this last couple of days,” he explains. “You’re the best example of why humans should embrace Inhuman existence.”

Daisy doesn’t know what to say. She knew it was important that she gave a good impression, she felt the responsibility of her mom choosing her. She thought it was natural - since she’s the leader’s daughter. 

Phil seems to believe Daisy was chosen because she’s Daisy. 

 

+++

 

The movie starts in twenty and Daisy can’t find her green flannel shirt.

“Maybe I left it at Alisha’s,” she wonders out loud. “Crap, I’m going to be late.”

Her parents are preparing dinner. When she was younger they’d come to movie night some times. But as Jiaying’s responsibilities grew, as the world started closing in on them, she is rarely seen hanging out socially with the rest of Afterlife. Which Daisy thinks it’s a shame, cause Jiaying loves being around people, she knows she does.

“Is the SHIELD agent going to be there?” Jiaying asks when she sees Daisy fussing over her clothes.

Okay, the blue shirt will have to do. And the pink lipstick.

“Aren’t you a smartass,” Daisy teases her mom.

Jiaying scowls. That should be enough to put the fear of god in the hearts of many men. Daisy sort of ignores her.

“I don’t like him,” Cal declares, like it’s super shocking.

“What a surprise,” Daisy says under her breath. She’s going to be freaking thirty in a month, her dad getting overprotective whenever she gets a boyfriend or a girlfriend. Wait, Phil not actually his boyfriend or anything remotely similar.

She met him like three days ago. She knows so little about him.

“Phil is okay,” she says to her father’s frown.

“Phil? First name basis?” her mother says.

“Are we seriously doing this?”

Jiaying has never been one to meddle in her personal life - as long as it didn’t affect her mission of protecting Inhumans. Maybe it’s because this time it’s a SHIELD agent. Daisy can understand that.

Cal continues, though: “He reminds me of myself when I met your mother, the same look of-” Jiaying elbows him gently, but making her point. “Sorry, did I say the wrong thing?”

“Almost always, dear,” she teases him, leaning to kiss his cheek. She shifts target again and goes back to Daisy. “He’s too old for you.”

Daisy snorts. “That’s funny. You’re three hundred years older than dad.”

“That’s different-”

“She has a point,” Cal mutters.

“He’s SHIELD,” Jiaying says, more forcefully. When her mom get serious - well, Daisy used to be a bit scared of her, and she understand why people, even the old guard, are still a bit scared of her. She’s a kind, tender woman, but when she gets serious she looks like she could bring war to anyone who dared mess with her. Daisy admired that in her, too. “We almost lost you, everything, because of SHIELD.”

“That wasn’t SHIELD, that was Hydra.”

“It was the same at the time.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Daisy argues. “There were good people who had no idea Hydra had infiltrated their ranks. People who died to stop it. Trust me on this.”

Jiaying looks at her. Daisy knows it’s the side effect of having lived for hundreds of years, but sometimes it really pisses her off, the way her mom would look at her with this expression of pity in her face, like she’s thinking _you’re going to get a shock when you find out how the world really works_ and Daisy thinks that’s a bit smug. 

Daisy trusts her instincts, she always has. And they haven’t failed her so far.

Jiaying walks up to her and takes Daisy’s hands in hers. Daisy smiles. She always liked being held by those warm, strong hands.

“Okay,” Jiaying says, with a gentle and very _human_ smile. “I trust you.”

 

+++

 

He must really like this spot.

He quietly slipped away in the middle of the movie, Daisy got the feeling that he knew he was making everybody a little uncomfortable. Everybody was trying to put on a show for him, as if their lives were in this stranger’s hands. She guesses in a way they are. Phil left so they could enjoy the rest of their evening in peace.

“It’s funny how dark it get out here,” he starts talking, sensing Daisy approaching from behind. “You forget that when you live in the city. It’s a pity one can’t see the mountains right now, though.”

“But you can see the stars,” Daisy comments, reaching his side and they both look up. “Nice night.”

“Yes.”

He’s leaving tomorrow morning, Gordon transporting him to a secret location SHIELD can’t know about, so that they won’t try any funny stuff. 

Daisy’s chest feels strange, like it’s suddenly too small. She realizes she’s going to miss this man, this stranger.

She’s not ready to let go.

And Daisy, well, she always goes after what she wants, be it an alliance with humans, or a human guy in particular.

“Phil?”

He turns. She can tell he really isn’t used to people calling him by his first name. 

“Yeah?”

“Is SHIELD hiring?”

“Why? Are you interested in joining?”

Oh god imagine Jiaying’s face, Daisy thinks. She should join, if only for that.

But it’s not just that.

Inhumans believe their powers have a purpose, that there’s a balance to be maintained. Daisy knows she’s meant to do things - things Afterlife might not approve of. She was given her powers for a reason. And Phil - she wants to tell Phil all about it. But not here.

“I’m twenty-nine, jobless, and living with my parents. Isn’t it time I shape up?” she jokes.

“Seriously, Daisy.”

The way he says her name. It’s like she’s heard him say it before. Before he even came to afterlife.

“I don’t know,” she shrugs. “Could we talk about that?”

“Of course,” he says and he has this expression - she’s seen him pull it before - like he can’t think of anything more interesting to do than listen to her talk. 

“I don’t mean here, I mean out there,” Daisy explains. “In your world.”

“Yes, of course.”

Cool, but there’s still the logistics of it.

“Can I get your number? Like, your personal number. Not like the SHIELD one.”

He offers his hand. Daisy pauses a moment - she knows what kind of tech this organization has, they could clone her phone just by drawing a thumb over it, but somehow she trusts Phil. Even though she’s only known him for three days and that’s just ridiculous. She hands him her phone and he punches in the number. There’s an awkward moment when he gives it back and they can’t seem to find a way to go back to their conversation.

“Do you hit on every SHIELD agent that comes to write a report on you and your people?” he teases her.

“What- ha!”

They chuckle and go back to looking at the stars in strangely companionable silence. The movie must be ending. She should get back. She doesn’t want to give her parents any more cause to try to murder Phil. Like, Daisy might be an adult, but Jiaying is _ten_ adults, better not risk it.

“I have a flying car,” Coulson says, all of the sudden. “I’ll take you on ride when we meet out there.”

“A flying car, really? Sounds impressive.”

It’d be nice, if they could drive away and get lost in a flying car. In a flying car with a guy like him.

“1962 Corvette. Red,” he adds.

Daisy smiles. He sounds smitten.

“Is she a beauty?” Daisy asks.

Phil turns to look at her.

“Yeah. _She_ is.”


End file.
